Jennifer Lawrence 'Didn't Look' at What Her Male Costar Earned for 'Mother!'

Jennifer Lawrence has spoken out several times in favor of closing the gender wage gap. Despite her advocacy, however, the actress admitted this week that her strategy for achieving equal pay with her male costars, confusingly, doesn't actually include comparing her earnings to theirs.

In an interview with the BBC while in London for the U.K. premiere of her new film, Mother!, J.Law said, "there's still a lot of unfairness" in the difference between men's and women's wages. "We are making changes, the gap is very slowly closing," she said. "But there's still work to be done." When asked whether she made sure her pay was equal to (or, perhaps, more than) that of Javier Bardem, her Mother! costar, though, Jen said, "I didn't look at what Javier is getting. I just knew what I deserved and fought for that," and joked that if she found out that Javier had in fact earned more than her, "There would be a phone call."

While it's definitely important to know your worth and demand adequate pay for it—and admirable that Jen is unapologetically doing so—it's just as crucial for her to know what her male peers are earning so that she can ensure she's being treated fairly. Jen's idea of what she deserves may actually be less than what the studio decided to give Javier, and the only way the Oscar winner can be sure that she receives the same amount as her costar (or even more, considering writer and director Darren Aronofsky recently told Vulture that the entire film revolves around Jen's character) is to ask flat-out what Javier earned.

The 27-year-old first spoke out on the issue of equal pay in 2015, when she penned an essay for feminist newsletter Lenny after discovering (via the late 2014 Sony Pictures hack) that she and Amy Adams had earned less than their male costars in back-end compensation for American Hustle. "I'm over trying to find the 'adorable' way to state my opinion and still be likable! Fuck that. I don't think I've ever worked for a man in charge who spent time contemplating what angle he should use to have his voice heard. It's just heard," she wrote. "Jeremy Renner, Christian Bale, and Bradley Cooper all fought and succeeded in negotiating powerful deals for themselves. If anything, I'm sure they were commended for being fierce and tactical, while I was busy worrying about coming across as a brat and not getting my fair share."

It took finding out what her male American Hustle costars earned in order for Jen to realize she was being taken advantage of—so it only makes sense that she should continue to keep an eye on all future male costars' earnings to make sure it doesn't happen again and to gain an even better idea of what exactly she should be asking for. It might seem unfair that she has to take on this responsibility herself, but until we finally close the gender (and race) wage gap, it's on each of us to keep the higher-ups accountable.